“This is good. Makes the house look walk-in ready.” Her attention shifted to one of the agents walking past her office door. “Hey, Jerry,” she called, smiling. Kristjan sat on the other side of the desk. They’d already established the ground rules. The door to her office would remain open. They would talk quietly, and when anyone came past or needed to speak with Susan, they’d be all business. “Barbara’s in a bad way,” Kristjan continued, looking wrung out, dark circles under his eyes. “When her boss called her into his office late yesterday afternoon, she had no idea she was about to get the boot. She cried on and off most of the night.” “You haven’t had much sleep.” He shook his head. Susan hadn’t slept much either. She’d tossed and turned all night, alternately excited and appalled by what, it seemed, she was about to do. As the morning light dawned, she was in possession of a rock-solid plan, but she needed Kristjan’s help to make it work. When the phone rang, it startled them both.
